Just as residents in Rawsonville were beginning to get a handle on the damage caused by Tropical Storm Irene on Sunday, the sky opened again. A “biblical” rain traumatized this tiny southern Vermont community Thursday night when a flash flood closed Route 100 and a mudslide took out part of a house on that same highway.
Rep. Oliver Olsen was on the scene and shot video and photos of the flooding. No one, he said, was injured. Residents in the area were evacuated.
Vermont Emergency Management confirmed the mudslide and flooding Thursday night.
The heavy downpour formed runoff that cut off the road, and law enforcement officials closed the state highway for several hours. The flash flood also washed out Goodaleville and Diers Roads.
This latest flooding comes on the heels of devastation caused by Tropical Storm Irene on Sunday.
Olsen’s district, which includes Winhall, Stratton, Weston, Londonderry and Jamaica, was badly damaged by Irene. Nearly 30 roads were still washed out in his district on Tuesday morning.
Four houses in Jamaica were swept away, and Route 30 was destroyed in several places, and two bridges were washed out when Ball Mountain Creek became a torrent.
The renowned Weston Playhouse was damaged when floodwaters churned through the building on Sunday. The 19th century Greek Revival structure was not insured, according to The New York Times.
There were no fatalities in Olsen’s district.
Last night in a FaceBook chat, the lawmaker said patience is wearing thin, even though residents now have power and many roads have been repaired. In an early morning email to constituents, in which he mentioned the Thursday night flash flood, he emphasized that Route 11 is now open.
Olsen will be touring area towns with Pat Moulton-Powden, deputy secretary of the Agency of Commerce, on Friday to talk with local business owners.
The Stratton Foundation has set up a fund for residents, many of whom were uninsured. So far, it has received $75,000 in contributions. Olsen wrote in an email to constituents he will be donating the rest of his campaign funds from the 2010 election (about $2,000) to the foundation.
For more information about the Stratton Foundation, go to http://www.strattonfoundation.org/.
